‘More than RV park to Tri-Cities.’ Benton City debates the future of its mayor

BENTON CITY, Wash. – A string of controversial Benton City mayors have led some voters to push for a major change.

They want a different form of city government and a mayor with less power.

But opponents say it could come at too high a cost financially for the small Benton County town’s budget.

On Aug. 3 voters will have the final say.

The city council’s recent decision to put the measure on the ballot came about the same time as the resignation of the third city clerk in a little over a year and the loss of a longtime maintenance foreman.

“I ask everyone to think about what it would take for employees to leave behind good paying jobs for part-time positions with significant pay cuts or no jobs at all,” Clerk Jeni Zuniga said in her resignation letter to the Benton City council.

However, Mayor Linda Lehman says it’s unfair to lay the blame for high staff turnover at her feet.

Under the “strong mayor” form of government, she’s the chief administrator for the city of about 3,900 people about 15 miles west of Tri-Cities.

Lehman is paid $9,600 a year plus $900 in benefits to manage all the city’s employees. That includes a city clerk, two general clerks, a code enforcement officer, three maintenance workers and a wastewater plant operator.

Benton County Sheriff’s Office handles law enforcement under a contract with the city, and the volunteer Benton County Fire District 2 handles firefighting and ambulances services.

Mayor-council system

Sixty percent of Washington’s 227 cities use the mayor-council system or a variant in which the mayor works with a city administrator to handle the day-to-day affairs, according to the Municipal Research and Services Center, a nonprofit that provides information about policy and legal matters to local governments.

West Richland and Prosser both have a mayor-council system.

If Benton City voters approve the change, it would replace the mayor’s position with a hired city manager. While the council could elect a mayor from its members, the person would not be responsible for day-to-day operations.

The council hasn’t decided whether the position would be full time or part time.

Kennewick, Richland and Pasco already operate under a city council-manager form of government. It is the second most common among Washington’s cities.

If Benton City makes the switch it will be the third smallest in the state and the smallest in Eastern Washington to have a council-manager government.

The two smallest are both in King County. One is Carnation, with a population of 2,260, and a general fund budget of about $2 million.

The other is Medina, with about 3,300 people on Lake Washington just west of Bellevue. Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have lived in the exclusive community. Overall, the city has a $8 million general fund budget.

Benton City has general fund biennial budget of $4 million.

Benton City mayors

The city council move is only the latest in a fractious relationship between the city council and Lehman that included a vote of no confidence in 2019.

It’s also included several long-time city employees leaving their positions with accusations of harsh working conditions.

Steve Zetz, a former planning commission member, left his spot in protest of how longtime City Clerk Stephanie Haug was treated.

Now he is helping lead efforts to change Benton City’s form of government.

“I would like to see a professional get into the driver’s seat and see what they can do for Benton City,” he told the Herald.

Lehman isn’t the first Benton City mayor to get crosswise with the city council and staff. Before Lehman was Lloyd Carnahan, who Zetz said claimed had some abrasive tactics during his two terms as mayor.

Carnahan replaced Bryan Robinson, a controversial mayor who had a mission to “expose corruption.” He was also convicted of giving police false or misleading information about a fight with a neighbor.

After he was mayor, Robinson had a run-in with city officials after he tried to stop a city crew from digging a ditch on his property.

Zetz contends the business community’s need for dependable leadership far outweighs the extra cost of a city manager. A city manager’s salary is predictable, but the cost of potential lawsuits is not, he said.

“If Benton City wants to be more than the RV park to the Tri-Cities, it needs to step out of the shadow and put professional leadership at the helm,” he said.

While Lehman is unpopular with the city council, she won re-election in 2019 with 53% or 331 votes compared to challenger David Sandretto, who had 288 votes.

Zetz suspects there is a contingent in town who worry about growth or change and are happy with the status quo.

But he emphasized that the Aug. 3 vote isn’t an effort to recall Lehman, just to change the structure of city’s leadership.

City manager cost

For opponents, like Sarah Funk, the cost of hiring a professional city manager would be too much.

Funk said at a recent council meeting that a city manager is not a good investment for Benton City.

“There are three council-manager positions that are here in Washington for cities that have less than 5,000 residents. All of those are full-time positions. All of those are salaried at over $100,000,” she said. “I haven’t found one city that is in a council-manager position that is not full-time.”

She pointed out the city managers in the Tri-Cities make nearly $200,000 a year, and Union Gap and Sunnyside managers make more than $100,000 a year.

“This is important and timely for citizens of Benton City to be talking about, there is definitely an impact to taxpayers,” she said at a May 11 special council meeting.

Funk could not be reached by the Herald about the measure.

Carnation, the smallest city with a city manager, pays at least $10,000 a month to their city manager, according to its salary schedule.

Carnation’s $1.7 million 2020 budget includes the city manager position, as well as $700,000 in police costs.